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I live near Beck / Brady and 9th / 18th and get great reception at home. I work at Ivy Tech and can get reception inside ALL campus buildings - and that's steel and CMU construction. I got the cheapest, cheesiest free phone that was ever invented - but I figure if I get such GREAT reception with that... I'll probably stick with Cingular and just upgrade the phone. I DO hate Cingular's customer service - just to be totally honest here - and be careful which store you buy from - if there's a long line when you get there- leave and go to another store. I used to stand in line for 45 minutes at Teal just to hear: I don't know, let me find my manager. Granted, this was two years ago...

Cingular has excellent reception and voice quality all over East and West Lafayette. I have used two other competing services and this is the only one that works in my basement and in the basement at work.

Really good reception everywhere in Lafayette, even good in buildings and basements.

Cinglar, by far, has the best all around coverage in a 50 mile radius of Lafayette. I used to spend all day, 5 days a week on the road. I have had Verizon and all the rest of the local carriers have been used by others working with me. Nearly everyone has switched to Cingular. When you make at least 3 or 4 calls minimum per day from all over the region, it becomes aparent which carriers work and which carriers don't. The only one where reception is no more than 5 minutes down the road from anywhere within 50+ miles of Lafayette is Cingular. From what I am to understand 2 more dead spots will be gone in about 2 more months. The other carriers do have excellent reception in certain areas surrounding Lafayette, but it is definitely a case of all or none. If you look at their coverage maps, they are very limited and cover only one or two directions out of Lafayette.

I think I may have just gotten lucky with my phone, but I get reception anywhere I go. The only time I can't dial out is when I am in a really heavily cemented basement with no windows. I can be in the ground floor of one of the campus libraries, (where no one else gets reception), and my phone will work. Out of town it works great, and the conversations are only garbled when I'm outside, or have the volume on my phone up too loud.